A ‘Twitter’ primer without the la-dee-dah

Twitter's the future, right? Well Twitter can make you feel very old in no time, as MRW, a frequent commenter on this site, has said. He has offered the following primer on starting a Twitter account.

So here's my analogy for learning Twitter: ever see the inside of a golf ball? All those rubber bands? Well, you're in the middle of that ball. Dead center. Trying to figure how to get out, and wondering why the hell you are even in there.

That said. Here's what you do to get moving using the damn thing. Just do the steps, dont think.

Now, go to http://search.twitter.com/ in a different window.

1. Trending topics are the top 10 hot conversations ('convos' in Twitter talk) for the moment around the world.
2. Choose any one with a #(hashtag) in front of it. That's a group. That's how it's identified. There's another way to join a group. I forget. Have no clue.
3. Double-click it.
4. Now you're in the group room. I just want you to see it.

JUST READ THE NEXT PART, or you can do it...so you can see what I mean.

1. You reply, if inspired, to any tweet by clicking on Reply under the tweet.
2. It takes you back to your homepage with the person's handle in the comment area so you dont have to type that part, like this @samplename, with the at sign.
3. If you want all the people in the group discussion to see your tweet, which you do, you have to remember to add #journchat (eg) in order to get it to show up in the group discussion...dont forget the hashtag.
4. After you type your reply, you have to wend your way back to the group page.
5. BIG F*****G PAIN IN THE ASS.

Here's the better way to handle groups.

1. Go to http://tweetchat.com/
2. Enter your TW ID: Lampshade
3. Enter your TW Password: light
4. Hit Return
5. Type in journchat
6. Hit Return.
7. Now you are in a real chat room where you dont have to remember to add #journchat every time.
8. Try it out. Some are conversing about last night.

This is a tweet currently on the #journchat page.

hotspringer RT @milehighfool #editorchat between prof. writers and editors will be on Twitter next Weds from 9-11 pm EST. #writing #freelance #journchat

I'll break it down for you, and show you something new in the process.

Retweeting

It's called Retweeting, or RT, which is the lingo for copying someone else's tweet because you think it's interesting, or it has value, the issue with Twitter. You give value in this media, either emotion/truth about yourself or information that helps another. That's how you connect. Add the RT yourself.

That's how you move out of the inside of the golfball. One person says something valuable, which goes out to everyone who is following him, and one of those people retweets it, which causes it to go out to all following him, etc. etc. etc. If the tweet is really valuable, it goes viral in a nanosecond; hence, how Mumbai tweets beat the press manning phones.

So in the tweet above, someone named hotspringer retweeted milehighfool's entire tweet, and the tweet is showing up in the following groups because milehighfool added them: #editorchat, #writing, #freelance.

Tweetchat conveniently added the #journchat label at the end because that's the chat room you're in.

Sending a message to the group

jawar in the tweet below is addressing the group with news contained in the trimmed link . Tweetchat adds jawar's name for him and #journchat with the hashtag at the end.

jawar Writers, Authors, Editors, Journalist, Book Publishers #journchat

Replying to someone in real time in the chat room (I'll use the same tweet as above)

jawar in the tweet below is replying specifically to milehighfool using the reply link or reply arrow. Tweetchat adds jawar's name for him and #journchat with the hashtag at the end.

jawar @milehighfool Writerblah, Auteurblah, blah-blah-blah, Whatever, Whatever, Whatever  #journchat

How to trim the URL (to save characters)

Twitter will do it for you but not as efficiently as using trimming services like http://tr.im or http://bit.ly

You have to sign up for them. They're free. These sites have thingeys that go on your browser menu bar and all you do is click and the URL is trimmed.

EXTRA

You can follow anyone by clicking on their name and clicking Follow under their picture. Get started by following the people who you like are following.

#journchat is on every Monday night from 8 - 11 EST.

@prsarahevans is the moderator for #journchat

Here's an oom-pah-pah about #journchat:

link to jensorganizedwriter.wordpress.com

You can reply privately to someone. It's called a direct reply. You do it this way with a 'd' and a space:

d lampshade xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Here are some sites on how to use Twitter:

link to news.cnet.com

link to www.doshdosh.com

link to salvationsystem.com

Watch the videos. They're about using Twitter for marketing but he's an interesting guy.

After four days join (free) and download Tweetdeck, and it will be self-evident why you are doing it.

Enough for now. Use the test account until you know what you're doing, then delete it, and start one for real.